The present invention relates to a fuel supplying means for use in a vehicle, and more particularly to a structure for a fuel supplying means installed on a cross member extending laterally across a vehicle.
In general, a vehicle, particularly a passenger car, is equipped with a fuel tank located behind a passenger seat in a passenger compartment. This construction results in a smaller space behind the passenger seat because of the size of the fuel tank. Various car constructions have overcome this disadvantage by eliminating the need for a drive shaft between an engine forwardly located and driving wheels rearwardly located by providing both the engine and drive wheels in either a forward location or a rearward location in the vehicle. Therefore, a floor tunnel, which would ordinarily house the drive shaft, can contain a longitudinal fuel tank, as shown in FIG. 5.
FIG. 5 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of a vehicle with a known structure for a fuel supplying means. The vehicle M, has a rear engine and a rear drive, with an engine 6 located over rear wheels 7. A pair of passenger seats 5 are provided next to the floor tunnel 2 on laterally opposite sides of the floor tunnel 2. The vehicle M has a fuel tank 3, which is fastened by a plurality of bands 10 onto a floor panel 1. The fuel tank 3 is provided under a floor tunnel 2, which longitudinally extends between a dash panel 8 and a back panel 9 in the vehicle M.
FIG. 6 shows a detailed view of the rear part of the fuel tank 3, shown in FIG. 5. A cross member 11 laterally extends across the vehicle M and is located behind the rear end of the fuel tank 3. A filler pipe 12 extends between a fuel inlet port 14 and the rear end of the fuel tank 3. The fuel inlet port 14 is located in the rear side portion of the vehicle body. The filler pipe 12 extends through a hole 13 created in the back panel 9. FIG. 6 shows that the rear end of the floor tunnel 2 extends to the back panel 9 and approaches to the cross member 11, which is connected with the lower end of the back panel 9, at an upper portion thereof. Because the fuel tank 3 is located in the lower portion of the vehicle M, the filler pipe 12 is provided between the rear end of the fuel tank 3 and the fuel inlet port 14. The filler pipe 12 must not contact the cross member 11, to avoid any scratching thereon, when the filler pipe 12 is assembled into the vehicle. Hence, it has been proposed that the filler pipe 12 should extend through the hole 13 to the rear vehicle body, as shown in FIG. 6. However, this construction results in a narrower space behind the back panel 9. Further, it is difficult to assemble the fuel tank 3 into the floor tunnel 2 in the condition that the filler pipe 12 does not contact the cross member 11.
Generally, vehicles having a rearwardly located engine and rearwardly located drive wheels have auxiliary parts, such as a charcoal canister for adsorbing evaporated fuel, a fuel filter and an oil cooler (for use with a torque converter) located on the back panel 9. The location of the filler pipe 12 behind the back panel 9 and over the cross member 11, makes it difficult to place the auxiliary parts in the narrow space behind the back panel 9.